Questions as to what various defendants did are not in issue. In re Buszta's Estate, 18 Misc.2d 716, 186 N.Y.S.2d 192, 193 (Sur.Ct. 1959).Rives v. Atlanta Newspapers, Inc., 110 Ga. App. 184, 138 S.E.2d 100, 104, rev'd on other grounds, 220 Ga. 485, 139 S.E.2d 395 (1964); see also, McCormick on Evidence, ยง 329 (2d ed. 1972).
Secondly, the court may take judicial notice of any fact which is "a matter of common and general knowledge, well established and authoritatively settled, not doubtful or uncertain." ( Ecco High Frequency Corp. v Amtorg Trading Corp., 81 N.Y.S.2d 610, 617; Matter of Buszta, 18 Misc.2d 716. ) The "five-day" rule is neither common knowledge, nor well established or authoritatively settled. The court, on its own volition, took a survey of three local banks and found that the number of days which must pass before a depositor may draw on an out-of-town check varies from bank to bank, in this case, 6, 8 and 10 days, respectively, for the banks surveyed.
These arguments were previously considered and rejected by this court with regard to Poland in Matter of Buszta ( 18 Misc.2d 716 -717). The Court of Appeals has taken notice that the Surrogate's Courts have withheld the distributive shares or legacies of nonresident aliens "because of the special circumstances in which the beneficiaries find themselves as domiciliaries in an iron-curtain country" ( Matter of Geiger, 7 N.Y.2d 109, 112).
It is possible that Bulgarian beneficiaries of decedents' estates actually do receive the benefit or use or control of funds due them, and that their shares are not subject to a confiscatory rate of exchange. But as Surrogate DILLON said in Matter of Buszta ( 18 Misc.2d 716, 717): "All of these things may be true. But they are not satisfactorily established by the papers now before the court, which consist of copies of alleged press releases and a letter from the State Department of Insurance.